The One With The Plane Ride
by aaeiilnn
Summary: Anyone would have thought that he'd be more precise when following through with his actions. If you thought Thanos 'deleted' exactly half of Earth, you thought wrong. [ FRIENDS in relation to Infinity War. ]


**I. The One With The Plane Ride**

"I can't believe this is happening!" Ross muttered excitedly as he looked out the window to see the view. "We always had plans like these but it never really happened until now, did it?"

"I thought you'd be terrified of the plane ride and I'd have to run back and forth to you and the kids because _someone_ was gonna throw a fit." Rachel replied as they glanced at the row where their daughter sat with her two younger cousins as they watched a movie together on an iPad they had borrowed. As if sensing eyes on her, the teenage girl lifted her head and raised an eyebrow at them before going back to the film.

"Oh please, Monica would be panicking way before I would. It's a miracle she hasn't talked to us about the hygiene in this plane since we got in."

The man in the row in front of them suddenly turned around in his seat, kneeling on it like a 6-year old child so he could see them better. " _Why_ did you have to bring that up? I've been trying my best to not make her notice it! You know we're right in front of you."

The woman beside him copied his position with a cautious look towards everything. "I'm really concerned because there's so many articles about how these planes aren't being _properly sanitized_. Think about the children!"

"Your kids are fine, leave them be." Someone behind Ross and Rachel exclaimed, sounding like they've heard this discussion for the hundredth time.

"Just because your kids aren't with us..." Monica muttered, half-joking.

The blonde one stood up — which was fine, the seatbelt light was off — and leaned on Ross' chair in front of her. "My kids would have been bothering you too so be thankful they're at home with Mike, and I thought we were having a _vacation_. I don't even know why you brought your kids."

"Oh, we're fine with it. Emma's gonna go and meet up with someone she met online." Rachel waved off.

"What?" Chandler asked the same time Monica practically screamed the same word. "First of all, the internet isn't safe— "

"Of course it's not, ye of old age. But did you really think we would be sending our kid off to the mall without triple checking everything about her friend?" Ross rolled his eyes. "We'd be dropping her off there and talking with her friend as well."

"Secondly, who would be watching our kids??" Monica continued.

Rachel sent her a confused look. "Did you just assume that my daughter is spending vacation as a _babysitter_ to her cousins? Because she was never going to."

"Looks like Joey and I are gonna have the most fun without worrying about babysitters or online strangers."

The man beside her stood up. "Yes, but maybe we'd be worrying about my fans. I think my recent movie did pretty well."

Chandler sighed. "Joey, you got 23% in Rotten Tomatoes."

"Which is great! Why would I want 100% tomatoes that are rotten in my show?" He asked confusedly. "It would be a mess."

"Oh sweetheart," Rachel sighed as she turned to look at Joey. "You're a mess."

A scream interrupted their conversation. They all turned their heads to see the source of the sound, but it was somewhere from the second class, so they couldn't really figure out what was going on from there.

"Please remain calm." The stewardess who had just given a blanket to one of the other passengers said when she saw their alarmed looks. "Something was probably spilled or something was dropped. Nothing major."

"It would be nice if you could go and check that out for us..." Monica suggested as the scream was suddenly accompanied by other shouts and exclamations, the sounds slowly rising in volume.

Everyone's heart skipped a beat in fear but no one said a word. The stewardess merely smiled and nodded before proceeding to check up on the situation.

"Oh my god..." a passenger in front of first class had muttered, but no one paid her any mind so she said cried out louder. "Oh my _god_ , someone help me!"

The shout for help pointed everyone's attention to the young woman probably in her mid-twenties as she stared at her hand — or at least what was left of it.

There was a second of silence when everyone just stared as her hand slowly disintegrated right in front of them before the noise of chaos took over. Another passenger immediately rushed to her, trying to offer some help, but it was all fruitless.

One by one, other passengers started panicking as they watched themselves or the person they were with slowly turning into ashes.

"W-What is happening?" Monica muttered confusedly. "Chandler, what's happening?"

"Is this some sort of joke that everyone is doing? Is this a trend now or—"

"Chandler." Her sharp tone called the attention of the rest of the group. "I'm..."

Immediately, they rushed and tried to hold onto her. But all it did was let them know how it felt when a friend slips through their fingers.

" _Dad?!_ " Emma's terrified shout stood above everyone else's to Ross and Rachel's ears. They both looked over and saw her in tears, trying to hug her cousins, but they were slowly disappearing as well.

"Chandler, the kids." Rachel whispered in shock as Ross immediately tried to walk towards them.

Chandler hasn't even processed the thought that all that's left of his wife is the pile of ashes on her seat. When he turned to look at the seat the kids were in, he didn't know his heart could break more than it has. Everything had gone so quiet in his mind and the sounds of everyone shouting didn't make any sense to him at all.

The next thing he knew, he was sitting on his seat, with Emma beside him because her parents are _gone_ (and his own family is _gone_ ) and Joey with Phoebe at his back, all of them in emergency landing positions.

The stewardess had mentioned something about not having any pilots when he was stuck in a silent trance.

"Are we gonna be okay?" He heard Emma whisper fearfully. He saw her ash-covered hands shaking, mirroring his own. "We're gonna be fine, right?"

As the plane shook once more and fell at an alarming speed, Chandler didn't know what to tell her.

So he didn't reply.

It felt cruel to give a child such false hope.

 ** _\--(A)--_**

 **a/n_ so no one told you life was gonna be this way *clapclapclapclapclap***

 **honestly, a plane losing its pilot was the first thing i thought of given the idea that half the world would just vanish, pretty sure only one fourth or less of the population would really survive the outcome**


End file.
